[cbvinh]

Maps and GPS Directions For Google Maps + Version 1.1.0.1 (3 MB)
$1.99

PlayBook OS 2.1.0.1088

From the reviews on AppWorld, this sounded like the best Google Maps app out there. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but it's not very good. I wish I could get a refund. (Are there an abundance of bogus reviews on AppWorld or is the state of Google Maps on the PlayBook so bad that this is the "best" app to access it?!)

+ Loads tiles fast (at least until you zoom in)
+ GPS location acquisition fast (though about as fast as Magellan Compass 3.1.2)
+ Menu access is from swipe down, as it should be
+ Alternate Map (Mapquest) with Live Traffic
+ Has Street View and Satellite View

- There are bicycle routes and traffic info that can be overlayed onto the map, but there's no way to toggle them off, except for Reset, which resets the map and takes you away from where you were looking.
- Although Directions allows you to select Current Location, it does not actually use it, but rather a nearby location.
- Search works, but the drop down of matching places/establishments is not easily finger selectable, i.e. it's very small!
- For Live Traffic, you need to switch to Mapquest (this overlay can be toggled on/off)
- Appears to be written in Javascript as the pop-up to jump to "your precise location" says "JavaScript Confirmation/Found your precise location - zoom to it?". The "precise location" is close, but not precise.
- If you zoom in super close, the swipe down menu becomes huge.

Image 1 shows broken huge menu. Image 2 is the normal menu.

[BerryClever]

...Are there an abundance of bogus reviews on AppWorld...

First, thanks for the heads up on this. As for the bogus reviews, I think there are a lot of different factors.
1. Developers seem to be able to delete reviews (I had wrote a negative review once and a while (nothing with swears or saying it "sucks" or anything like that, just a critical review and it has been deleted by a developer after a day or two of being up... happened maybe twice).
2. Some reviewers are....... "slow". I have downloaded apps that are not games and the reviews are "this game sucks!". One was a color app and there were reviews saying it was a horrible game and even a review saying it was a great game with hours of fun, though a bit of a learning curve. It was an app you select colors and got a RGB code for them and worked almost like a color wheel where you can see colors together.
3. Each person has different criteria. Some have way high expectations, some has way low expectations. They tend to be outliers though.
4. Some at least seem bogus, maybe by friends, but don't believe that they can saturate the reviews to skew it too much unless there isn't many reviews in the first place.

[rkennedy01]

You would have been better off simply sideloading Google Maps. It runs great on 2.1, and the offline caching feature makes it useful even without a data connection. And, of course, it's free.

RCK

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

Osmand has a free version that works fine. It takes a while to go through all the settings but it's worth it. You can use Google, Bing or a few other choices as your online mapping solution. There is also offline maps. There is more than a couple threads on here about Osmand.

[cbvinh]

I sent the developer a bug report as well as things that could be improved, like large text for entry fields. Guess we'll see if s/he is responsive.

Thanks everyone for responding to my query about AppWorld reviews and giving alternative map app suggestions.